Eight years ago or so, the Colorado Music Festival’s summer lineup elicited little more than a yawn. There were too many ho-hum programs and soloists, too little that sparked excitement.

But all that changed with the 2001 arrival of Michael Christie, who began to inject diversity into the Boulder series’ programming and upgrade the caliber of soloists, persuading noted colleagues to make guest appearances.

Even more important, the new music director was willing to take artistic and box-office risks, adding one or two adventuresome events to each summer’s lineup, offerings that gave the festival a distinctive, edgy flavor.

Examples include the 2006 presentation of “Sun Rings,” a multimedia 90-minute work featuring the Kronos Quartet, and last summer’s concert version of “Ainadamar,” Osvaldo Golijov’s one-act operatic sensation.

All that combined with Christie’s prowess on the podium have led to steady artistic improvement. Indeed, this summer’s edition, which concluded Aug. 1, might well have been the festival’s best yet.

Topping the season was “Beethoven Rocks!,” an ambitious five-concert presentation of all nine of the composer’s symphonies in eight days, a daring venture that paid off with consistently effective performances and big audience turnouts.

At the same time, the festival presented just the second set of performances of Mark Grey’s inventive “Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio,” as well as appearances by such in-demand soloists as mezzo- soprano Kelley O’Connor and violinist Jennifer Koh.

Not surprisingly, this artistic quality and daring paid off at the box office. Overall paid attendance for the summer was 19,065, an astounding 60 percent increase from the 2003 turnout of 11,887.

That includes a total of 4,820 attendees for the five Beethoven concerts, including three sellouts in the 1,300-seat Chautuaqua Auditorium. There were four other sellouts as well, including a July 3 patriotic pops concert and a world-music concert with Jake Shimabukuro on ukulele.

Such success is a far cry from from 2002, when the festival was unable to meet the minimum qualifying income requirement for Tier 2 funding from the seven-county, sales tax-supported Scientific and Cultural Affairs District.

It fell in the district’s Tier 3 pool, where financial support was significantly less. It was not until 2005 that the festival was again able to join Tier 2. With an expected budget of $1.4 million for 2009, it appears back on firm financial footing.

Not all this success can be attributed to Christie — better marketing, increased outreach and other elements have played a role as well — but the audience-friendly conductor certainly deserves much of the credit.

The good news is that in 2007, the festival extended the conductor’s contract through 2010, and he insists he has no plans to leave after that.

“There is absolutely no reason to speculate — even to the slightest degree — that I would not extend for a notable period of time,” Christie said. “I’m having way too much fun.”

Even with those assurances, there is no guarantee that the festival will be able to retain him. Since coming to Boulder, the 35-year-old conductor’s career has been on a meteoric rise, including substituting recently for an ill guest conductor at the New York Philharmonic.

But any worries over his possible departure are still years away. For now, the festival’s future looks brighter than ever as preparations begin for its 33rd season. Expect the lineup to be announced some time in January.